Quick Start Rules

C o m p e t it i ve G a m e for 2 - 8 Pl aye rs
Fortune and Glory, The Cliffhanger Game is a fast-paced game of high adventure, vile
Villains, edge-of-your-seat danger, and Cliffhanger pulp Movie Action. Players take on the role
of a treasure hunter, traveling the globe in search of ancient artifacts and fending off danger and
Villains at every turn in a quest for the ultimate reward of Fortune and Glory!
Note that this quick start guide is just to get you going and if questions arise (and they
surely will), you will need to look in the Rulebook for specific answers. Also note that this
is the Basic Game, and thus leaves out a lot of the cool elements that are a bit more complex.
There are two resources in the game, Fortune (Gold coins) and Glory (Clear-Blue coins).
Fortune is gained by recovering and selling Artifacts and is used to win the game. Glory is
gained by defeating Enemies and overcoming Dangers and is used to buy Gear and Allies, and
to heal.
Objective: Be the first Hero to collect at least 15 Fortune and be in your Starting
City at the end of a Game Round.

Hero Miniatures Visual Reference

Jacques Moreau

Duke Dudley

Li Mei Chen

Jake Zane

Sharon Hunter

Dr. Zhukov

Shelly Hargrove

Alexander Cartwright

Set Up

1) Remove the following cards from the decks and

set them aside (they will not be used for now):
Artifacts - The Mine, The City, The Valley,
The Temple, The Caverns,
The Tomb
Events - Lost Temple
City - Trouble in Town
Dangers - Agents of Evil
Enemies - Mob Leader
Nazi Enemies - Nazi Commander
Villains & Villain Events - *All*
2) Shuffle all card decks thoroughly.

3) Lay out Game Board and Card Decks as shown

above.
4) Each player draws a random Hero and places
their figure on the board in the Start City listed.
5) Set out remaining counters, figures and dice.
6) Draw 1 Artifact and 1 Adventure card and place
them face up together (nested) at the top of
the board. Then draw a Location card to see
where the Artifact is located. Place one of the
colored skull markers on the Artifact card and
the other on the board in the Random Location
drawn.
7) Repeat step 6 above so that there are 4 total
Artifacts out on the board.
8) You are now ready to begin!

roll of 2 or 3, nothing happens. On the roll

of 1, draw an Enemies card that attacks you.
Space with an Artifact If there is an Artifact
in your space, you may now go on the
adventure to try and recover it.

The Game Round

Each Game Round has 4 Phases.
1) Initiative Phase
2) Move Phase
3) Adventure Phase
4) End Phase

End Phase

Initiative Phase
Each player rolls a die. The highest roller (roll
off if tied) takes the First Player frog token. Any
player that rolls a 1 draws a free Event card.
Any cards that have an Activate: ability (ie.
one use per turn) become ready again.

During the End Phase, draw and place new

Artifacts (an Artifact/Adventure combo with a
Random Location) to replace any that have been
recovered. There should always be 4 Artifacts out
on the board at the end of a Game Round.
Also, any Heroes that were KOd now recover.

Artifact Adventures

Move Phase
Starting with the First Player, each player rolls
a die and may move up to that many spaces on the
board. There are 3 types of space Land, City,
and Sea. Land and City spaces cost 1 movement
to enter, while Sea spaces have a movement cost
printed in the space. Heroes may move through
and occupy the same space as one another. During
your move it is a good idea to try and get into the
same space as one of the Artifacts around the board.
Any player that rolls a 1 for Move also gets
a free Event card. Note that all Heroes Move in
the Move Phase before gameplay proceeds to the
Adventure Phase.

Adventure Phase
During the Adventure Phase, starting with
First Player, every Hero gets to interact with
space they are in as follows:
City Space Draw
a City Card.
If it has a
Secret icon
(as shown in
the example to the right)
do not read it aloud.
Otherwise, read the card
and do what it says.
Land or Sea Space If there
is no Artifact in your space, roll a die. On
roll of 4, 5, or 6 draw an Event card. On

the
the

the
the

Each Artifact has a Fortune Value (in the gold

coin icon) and a Dangers Value (in the red tribal
shield icon). A Hero must complete a number
of Dangers equal to the Dangers Value to recover
the Artifact (this can be done over multiple turns).
For now ignore any other icons or text on the
Artifact/Adventure cards.
Each Danger must be overcome one at a
time. Draw a Danger from the bottom of the
Dangers deck (make sure that it says Danger in
the Keywords bar below the card image, and not
Cliffhanger). Dangers are always discarded to the
top of the deck. Each Danger has a Glory Value
and one or more Tests. If there is an or between
Tests, you may choose which to try; if it says
and, both Tests must be taken. If you choose a
Fight option, go directly to combat.

Tests and Cliffhangers

To make a Test, roll a number of dice
equal to your Heros Skill associated with
that Test (Agility, Lore, etc). These are called
Adventure Dice. The number listed in the
Test is what you need on each die to be a
success (4+ = 4, 5, or 6, 5+ = 5 or 6, etc).
For each die that rolls a success, place a
success marker on the Danger. You must get
successes equal to the number of shown to
pass the Test. Each time you roll, as long as
you roll at least one success, you may roll the
dice again.
If the Tests are passed, the Danger has
been overcome and you may choose to either
Camp Down (end your turn, collect the Glory
from the Dangers overcome so far, and fully
Heal) or Press On (continue directly on to
the next Danger, risking the Glory potentially
earned so far).
If you do not roll enough successes, the
Test is failed. Your turn immediately ends and
you must flip the Danger over to its Cliffhanger
side. Next turn, you may not move away and
must try to overcome the Cliffhanger during
your Adventure Phase.
If a Cliffhanger Test is failed, your Hero is
KOd and sent back to your Starting City (and
you must lose a dice worth of any mix of Gear,
Allies, Glory, Fortune). During a Cliffhanger
Test (and only on Cliffhanger Tests), you may
Exert by taking Wounds on your Hero to roll
extra Adventure Dice on a 1-for-1 basis. If the
Cliffhanger Tests are passed, you may Camp
Down or Press On as normal.

Selling Artifacts and

Buying Items
While in a City during your Adventure
Phase (after drawing the City card), you
may sell any Artifacts you have. Discard the
Artifact and gain the Fortune value listed.
You can also buy Gear and/or Allies for 5
Glory each. These are placed face up next to
your character sheet. There is also a stack of
Common Items that can be purchased for the
Glory cost listed in the upper corner. Note
that there is no discard pile for the Common
Items stack and if discarded, these cards are

simply returned to the stack. While in a City

you may Heal wounds for 1 Glory each.

Fighting Enemies
To Fight an Enemy, you must go through
a number of Fight Rounds. Each Round you
roll Fight Dice equal to your Combat Skill.
The Enemy also rolls their Fight Dice against
you at the same time. Every roll of 4, 5, or 6
is a Hit. Heroes have a Defense listed next
to their Wounds box. Every time you are
attacked, you may ignore a number of Hits
equal to your Defense (usually this is Defense
1 for Heroes and none for Enemies). For
each Hit that goes beyond the Defense, place
a Wound marker on the character. If a Hero
has Wound markers equal to or more than
their listed Wounds, they are KOd and sent
back to their Starting City (and you must lose
a dice worth of any mix of Gear, Allies, Glory,
Fortune).
When an Enemy has Wound markers
equal to or more than their Wounds stat, they
are defeated. Immediately gain the Glory
value listed on the Enemy.
Note that during a Danger if you go
directly to a Fight, you will collect the Glory
listed on the Enemy instead of the Glory listed
on the Danger card.

Event Cards
Event cards can be played as noted on the
card itself. Events listed as Play Immediately
must be played as soon as they are drawn.

Important Notes
A Hero may not carry more than 3 Gear
and 3 Allies at a time (Common Items are
all Gear in the main game).
Heroes may not directly attack one another.
Random Cities are listed at the bottom of
each Location card.
An Enemy Figure in a space (Nazi Soldier
or Mobster Thug) stops a Heros movement
and must be fought immediately. Nazi
Figures represent Nazi Soldiers and Mobster
figures represent Mobsters.